Early results show three-way battle for Merced County Superintendent
.png "From left, Richard Lopez, Paula Heupel and Ana Boyenga")
Early results show a three-way race in the battle to earn two spots in a runoff election in November to become the next Merced County superintendent of schools.
Early results from Tuesday’s primary election show Richard Lopez leading three others candidates with 6,358 votes for 32.45%. Ana Boyenga had 5,582 votes for 28.49%, just one vote ahead of Paula Heupel, who had 5,581 votes for 28.48%.
Alberto Velarde lagged behind with 1,996 votes for 10.19%.
The top two vote-getters will face off in the general election on Nov. 3.
The early count includes only mail-in ballots received by Sunday. The Merced County Registrar of Voters still needs to count votes made early in-person, votes made in-person Tuesday, and the mail-in votes that arrived Monday and Tuesday.
The winner will take over for Steve Tietjen, who announced in last November that he would retire at the end of his current term, which ends in December.
The county superintendent is responsible for oversight of school district budgets, approval of Local Control and Accountability plans, and the supervision of education for incarcerated students. Additionally, while each school district has its own board of trustees and superintendent, the county superintendent is tasked with creating a network to support all 20 school districts in Merced County.
Lopez is the superintendent of Merced River School District. Boyenga is the assistant superintendent of the Atwater Elementary School District. Heupel is the superintendent of El Nido Elementary School District.
Velarde is a retired principal and school administrator.
This story was originally published June 2, 2026 at 9:12 PM.
